Israel–Pakistan relations

Israeli–Pakistani relations

Israel	Pakistan

The bilateral relations between the state of Pakistan and the state of Israel have been complex since their establishment in 1947 and 1948 respectively, shifting from close ties to hostilities against each other. Politically and historically, both states were established based on their ideological declarations (See Two-Nation Theory and Homeland for the Jewish people) in 1947 from British Empire. Despite many attempts to establish relations between the two states, diplomatic ties have not been established and as many other Muslim countries have done; Pakistan has refused to recognize Israel. However, the relations between Pakistan and Israel are highly complex and complicated, which leading Pakistani political and military scientist Dr. Ayescha Sideeka referred to as a "Love–hate relationship".

On many occasions, both Pakistan and Israel used their Embassies at Istanbul to mediate or exchange information with each other, for instance, Pakistan used its embassy in Istanbul to pass information on a terror group to Israel in 2010. The 1980s saw the strong coordination between two countries when their intelligence agencies ran the Operation Cyclone against the Soviet Union and their war against the Afghan Mujahedin, based on their mutual distrust of "Communism". But the hostilities are also widely reported with Israel labelling Pakistan "an antisemitic state" and Pakistan counter-labeling "A Zionist and racist state". However recently, both Israeli and Pakistani politicians have called for the normalisation of diplomatic relations, which would in theory be mutually beneficial.

Early contacts

An attempt to establish diplomatic relations with Pakistan and Israel was made in 1947, when Israel's first Prime minister David Ben-Gurion sent a telegram to Jinnah—Pakistan's founder. But Jinnah instead stated, “Every man and woman of the Muslim world will die before Jewry seizes Jerusalem. I hope the Jews will not succeed in their nefarious designs and I wish Britain and America should keep their hand off and then I will see how the Jews conquer Jerusalem. The Jews, over half a million, have already been accommodated in Jerusalem against the wishes of the people. May I know which other country has accommodated them? If domination and exploitation are carried now, there will be no peace and end of wars”. Later in 1949, Israel's Foreign Ministry believed it might be possible to open legations in Karachi, then the capital of Pakistan, or at least to conduct trade openly. Initial contact between the ambassador (High Commissioner) of Pakistan in London and representatives of Israel and Jewish organizations was made in early 1950. The Pakistani government was asked to issue passage permits to India for a few hundred Jews who wanted to leave Afghanistan and wished to emigrate to Israel. The Pakistan government refused to allow them to transit through Pakistan and the Jews left through Iran.

In 1952, Sir Zafarullah Khan, Pakistan's foreign minister, promoted his hardline policies toward Israel, and pressed his policies toward the unity of Arab states. Thus, Khan's policy had worked to build strategic ties with Arab states. Furthermore, hardline policies against each other causes further political tensions.

Political tensions

See also: Indo-Israeli relations#Military and strategic ties and Pakistan-OIC relations#Military cooperation

Pakistani Attitudes towards Israel

See also: Antisemitism in Pakistan

During Israel's War of Independence (1947–1949), Israel's diplomatic mission in Washington received information that Pakistan was trying to provide military assistance to the Arabs, including rumors that a Pakistani battalion would be sent to Palestine to fight alongside them. Pakistan bought 250,000 rifles in Czechoslovakia that apparently were meant for the Arabs. Also, it became known that Pakistan bought three planes in Italy for the Egyptians. The Pakistan Air Force in the 1967 and 1973 Arab–Israeli wars, Pakistani pilots flying Jordanian and Syrian planes shot down Israeli planes. Saiful Azam, a Pakistani pilot shot down at least 4 Israeli jets. In the 1982 battle for Beirut between Israel and the PLO, fifty Pakistani volunteers serving in the PLO were taken prisoner by Israel. After the 1973 war, Pakistan and the PLO signed an agreement for training PLO officers in Pakistani military institutions. After successfully destroying Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981, Israelis planned a similar attack on Pakistan’s nuclear facilities at Kahuta in collusion with India in the 1980s. Using satellite pictures and intelligence information, Israel reportedly built a full-scale mock-up of Kahuta facility in the Negev Desert where pilots of F-16 and F-15 squadrons practised mock attacks. According to ‘The Asian Age’, journalists Adrian Levy and Catherine Scott-Clark stated in their book ‘Deception: Pakistan, the US and the Global Weapons Conspiracy’, that Israeli Air Force was to launch an air attack on Kahuta in mid-1980s from Jamnagar airfield in Gujarat (India). The book claims that “in March 1984, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi signed off (on) the Israeli-led operation bringing India, Pakistan and Israel to within a hair’s breadth of a nuclear conflagration”. Another report claims that Israel also planned an air strike directly out of Israel. After midway and midair refueling, Israeli warplanes planned to shoot down a commercial airline’s flight over Indian Ocean that flew into Islamabad early morning, fly in a tight formation to appear as one large aircraft on radar screens preventing detection, use the drowned airliner’s call sign to enter Islamabad’s air space, knock out Kahuta and fly out to Jammu to refuel and exit. According to reliable reports in mid-1980s this mission was actually launched one night. But the Israelis were in for a big surprise. They discovered that Pakistan Air Force had already sounded an alert and had taken to the skies in anticipation of this attack. The mission had to be hurriedly aborted.

Pakistani passport

Pakistan reminded the Israelis that Pakistan was no Iraq and that PAF was no Iraqi Air Force. Pakistan is reported to have conveyed that an attack on Kahuta would force Pakistan to lay waste to Dimona, Israel’s nuclear reactor in the Negev Desert. India was also warned that Islamabad would attack Trombay if Kahuta facilities were hit. The above quoted book claims that “Prime Minister Indira Gandhi eventually aborted the operation despite protests from military planners in New Delhi and Jerusalem.”

McNair’s paper #41 published by USAF Air University (India Thwarts Israeli Destruction of Pakistan's "Islamic Bomb") also confirmed this plan. It said, “Israeli interest in destroying Pakistan’s Kahuta reactor to scuttle the "Islamic bomb" was blocked by India's refusal to grant landing and refueling rights to Israeli warplanes in 1982.” Clearly India wanted to see Kahuta gone but did not want to face retaliation at the hands of the PAF. Israel, on its part wanted this to be a joint Indo-Israeli strike to avoid being solely held responsible.

According to Time, French intellectual Bernard-Henri Lévy, has even claimed that Daniel Pearl, an American-Israeli, was assassinated by elements with backing from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, (though there has been no verifiable evidence presented) over his alleged role in gathering information linking ISI and Al-Qaeda. According to other reports from BBC and Time, Pakistani militants beheaded him because of their belief that Daniel Pearl was an Israeli Mossad spy agent under the cover of being an American journalist.

In addition to these, Pakistan religious political parties and militant groups such as Jamaat-e-Islami, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and Lashkar-e-Taiba fiercely oppose any relationship with Israel, and have repeatedly called Israel as the enemy of Islam and Pakistan.

Pakistan forbids its citizens from going to Israel, and all Pakistani passports bear the inscription "This passport is valid for all countries of the World except Israel."

Israeli attitudes towards Pakistan

There is little discussion of Pakistan in Israel. Pakistani officials have complained that in the past requests for fresh weapons systems from the U.S. have been "fiercely resisted by Indian and Israeli lobbyists". A pro-Israeli Jewish former Indian Army officer, Lieutenant General J. F. R. Jacob is also celebrated in Israel for his role in the 1971 war to liberate East Pakistan from West Pakistani domination.

In the 1980s, Israel is said to have planned, with or without Indian assistance, a possible attack on Pakistan's bomb capacity.

Military intelligence cooperation

Despite the hostilities against each other, both countries are reported to have directorates to deal with each other at an intelligence level. The history of Pakistan–Israel intelligence cooperation dated back to early 1980s, when Pakistan's President and Chief of Army Staff General Zia-ul-Haq allowed ISI to established a secret directorate to deal with Israel's Mossad. Intelligence offices were set up at both countries embassies located at Washington D.C. where Mossad and ISI, with CIA, ran a decade year long anti-soviet Operation, codename Operation Cyclone. Under this operation, Israel proliferated soviet made weapons to Mujaheddin, and some Israeli weapons to Pakistan Army.

Wikileaks, in a disclosed United States diplomatic cable, revealed that ISI had secretly passed on intelligence data to Mossad. ISI had intercepted information that Israeli civilians may be targeted in a terrorist attack in India during September and November 2008 (following the 26 November Mumbai Terror Attacks that among its targets included a Jewish centre—the Nariman House). It was reported that Pakistan's Lieutenant-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha was in direct contact with Israel's Mossad.

Israel and Pakistan were both allied to the United States and the western bloc during the Cold War, while India was allied to the Soviet Union's bloc. India supported the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan and supported the pro Soviet Afghan leader Mohammad Najibullah. Pakistan and Israel opposed the Soviet invasion, with Israel supplying arms to Pakistan to give to the mujahideen. Israel had captured the weapons from Palestinian groups such as the PLO, who were supplied by the Soviets.

Normalization of ties

Diplomatic

Some Israeli leaders believe that should diplomatic relations with Pakistan be established then Pakistan could serve as a bridge between Israel and the Muslim world, including Arab countries. Although the governments of Israel and Pakistan do not officially have relations with each other, there have been a number of contacts between the two states. According to the Jang news, there continue to be multiple media reports that in the past many powerful Pakistani personalities and figures have visited Israel. Former President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf has openly spoke for the diplomatic relations with Israel. He is the first Pakistani Muslim diplomat to give interview to Haaretz. In London, he was interviewed by Danna Harman.

Sporting ties

A team or a person officially representing Pakistan has never played an Israeli. During the 2002 Wimbledon Open, Israeli tennis player Amir Hadad teamed up with Pakistani tennis player Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi to play in the 3rd round doubles. The Israeli and Pakistani teams, with their pairing of an Israeli and a Pakistani, made headline news.

Dan Kiesel, an Israeli-born German, served as the Pakistan cricket team's trainer and physiotherapist and lived in Lahore.

Zionism

Former Foreign Minister of Pakistan Khurshid Kasuri supported ties between Pakistan and Israel. Tashbih Sayyed was a well-known Pakistani-born American who openly expressed his support of Israel in many of his columns and writings throughout his journalistic career.

Media

Pakistan's Express Tribune newspaper has praised Israel on numerous occasions. Most commentators on the newspaper website have also displayed pro-Israel sentiment.

Timeline

• In 1947, media reports the first contact between Pakistan and Israel were made in early days of Pakistan's independence, when Israeli Prime minister David Ben-Gurion sent a secret message by phone to the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah to recognize Israel when it declares independence, which happened in 1948. But Jinnah did not give any particular response to Israel.
• In 1949, Philippine Airlines became the only carrier to establish a direct air link between Karachi and Lod (Tel Aviv) as a sector on their Manila–London service, however it is not known whether they had traffic rights between the two, allowing passengers and cargo to be flown on the route.
• Initial contact between the ambassador (high commissioner) of Pakistan in London and representatives of Israel and Jewish organizations was made in early 1950, to open legations in Karachi, or at least to conduct trade openly.
• A meeting took place in New York between Zafrullah Khan and Abba Eban, then Israel's ambassador to the United States, on 14 January 1953 to discuss Israeli–Pakistani relations.
• In the 1980s (1980–1988), during the Soviet war in Afghanistan, CIA along with MI5, Mossad and Pakistani-based intelligence ISI, ran a covert operation named Operation Cyclone in Afghanistan to remove the Soviets from the country. During the operation Israel and Pakistan also had high-level dealings through their intelligence agencies, which included military dealings.^{[citation needed]} Israel also supported Pakistan by providing Soviet weapons to Pakistan during 1980s.
• In 1981, after Israel's attack on Iraq's Osiraq nuclear reactors in the 1980s, a similar plan to attack Pakistan's Kahuta Research facility by using Indian airfields was foiled, when the Pakistan Air Force got alerted beforehand, and took preventative measures.
• In 1993, former Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto, along with her then-Director-General of Military Operations, Pervez Musharraf, had intensified the ISI's liaison with Mossad in 1993. Bhutto is said to have had a secret meeting in New York with a senior Israeli emissary, who flew to the U.S. during her visit to Washington, D.C. in 1995.
• In 1998, Pakistan's conservative Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif sent a secret courier to Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, assuring Israel that Pakistan will not transfer her nuclear technology to Iran to aide in their nuclear program, even though Iran's foreign minister had paid a visit.
• In 2001, Pakistan via ISI, passed intelligence about the Gulf States and the nuclear ambitions of Iran and Libya, whose programs Pakistani scientists had helped to build.
• In 2003, President Pervez Musharraf raised the issue of possible diplomatic relations with Israel.
• In 2005, the foreign ministers of the two countries held talks for the first time. However, following the meeting Musharraf said Pakistan will not recognise the state of Israel until an independent Palestinian state is established,—although, according to Musharraf, Pakistan will eventually recognize Israel.
• In 2010, according to unconfirmed "leaked" American diplomatic cables, from October 2009, head of Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI Lieutenant-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha provided intelligence on potential terrorist attacks in India to Israel through Washington. According to the cable, "He had been in direct touch with the Israelis on possible threats against Israeli targets in India." A few weeks before the cable was written, the Israeli Counter-Terror Bureau had issued a travel advisory warning of possible attacks against Israeli sites in India.

See also

• International recognition of Israel
• Pakistanis in Israel
• History of the Jews in Pakistan
• Pakistan–Palestine relations

Further reading

• P. R. Kumaraswamy, "Beyond the Veil: Israel-Pakistan Relations", Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, Tel Aviv University, Memorandum no. 55, March 2000
• Moshe Yegar, "Pakistan and Israel", Jewish Political Studies Review 19:3–4 (Fall 2007)
• P. R. Kumaraswamy, "The Strangely Parallel Careers of Israel and Pakistan", Middle East Quarterly, June 1997, pp. 31–39
• Rashid Ahmad Khan, "Pakistan's Policy Towards Arab–Israel Conflict (1948–1973)", PhD thesis, University of Punjab, Feb 1991.
• Karsh, Efraim (2007). Israel in the International Arena. Israel: The First Hundred Years IV. Taylor & Francis. pp. 249–267. ISBN 978-0714649603. 
• dead link] Paul Rockower, "Dancing in the Dark: Pulling the Veil off Israel–Pakistan Relations", Moshe Ma'oz (ed.), Sussex, 2010, p. 186–214.